A 28-year-old woman is charged with arson after a fire at the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Ms Archer said an additional five beds will be made available on the hospital campus in the coming weeks, and the Health Department will continue to rent three beds at the neighbouring North West Private Hospital.<\/p>\n
Mental Health Lived Experience Tasmania chief executive Tash Smyth praised the Health Department and frontline workers for their work to continue to deliver mental health care for people in the north-west.<\/p>\n
The Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) has also welcomed the measures but said there are still issues to work through, including the flow-on effects from losing beds from the private system.<\/p>\n
![\"Corridor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f75b6fba0696298acaa39b12f838fcfd.jpeg\")
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Fire and smoke damage to the mental health unit at the North-West Regional Hospital in September. (Tasmanian government)<\/p>\n
Advocate urges rethink on care modelIf you or anyone you know needs help:<\/p>\n
Going forward, Ms Smyth said the closure of the Spencer Clinic had provided an opportunity to reconsider how mental health care is provided in the region.<\/p>\n
“Spencer Clinic was a very traditional acute inpatient model. There are better ways of doing things,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Yes, it’s a shock. You think \u2026 we’ve lost 19 beds. But did we need those 19 beds, or do we need a different type of service to address the needs of the community?”<\/p>\n
Ms Smyth said the interim arrangements will include sub-acute beds separate to high dependency beds, which weren’t previously available at the Spencer Clinic.<\/p>\n
“There will always be people in the community that do need a hospital setting \u2026 but is there a different way that we can do this? And sometimes it takes a crisis to get us to start thinking creatively about a more contemporary model of care,” she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Robbie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/bf7ef4f4d3c36a7a53e851fbfeaa6a36.jpeg\")
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HACSU state secretary Robbie Moore says there is an opportunity to improve mental health services in the north-west. (ABC News: Ashleigh Barraclough)<\/p>\n
HACSU state secretary Robbie Moore said the response to the fire had been positive, but the system still had capacity issues.<\/p>\n
“We are welcoming that they do have some interim arrangements that will mean there will be hospital beds available for people on the north-west,” he said.<\/p>\n
“What they’re not dealing with is that by taking the private beds out of being available on the north-west, those patients are likely to then end up in the public system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“And we don’t have the capacity to deal with that.”![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/128dbc56e07f5cc1276e2ea6d3759942.jpeg\")
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A TFS officer inspects fire and smoke damage to the mental health unit. (Tasmanian government)<\/p>\n
Wait continues for new unit<\/p>\n
A new 22-bed mental health unit to replace the ageing Spencer Clinic has been in the pipeline for several years.<\/p>\n
The $40 million dollar facility was first promised by the Liberal government during the 2021 election campaign.<\/p>\n